The servants who had arrived earlier had already reserved a small courtyard with two entrances in the post station. The guards and some male servants lived in the back of the front courtyard, while the master, several personal guards, and maids lived in the inner courtyard.
Chen Ahfu and Chu Lingxuan lived in the north room of the east wing, while Wei Mama and Li Xuan lived in the south room. The old man and Mr. Chu lived in the upper room, and Wang Cheng's family lived in the west wing.
After entering the house and putting away the things, they went to the upper room to eat. Wang Cheng's family became nervous when they saw the grandfather and grandson of the Chu family. They could not eat enough when eating together, so Chen Afu asked someone to send their food to the west wing and also sent a pot of wine to Wang Cheng.
What Chen Afu didn't know was that Wang Cheng and his wife had barely eaten enough during the few days they were in the mansion. The family was scared of suddenly entering a wealthy family, and someone said something unpleasant. Although they later beat those people and sold them, Wang Cheng and his wife felt that they had caused trouble for Chen Afu and were extremely sorry.
A lot of food was delivered every day, but they were afraid that the servants would laugh at them for eating too much, which would bring shame to Chen Ahfu. Except for the little brother and sister who ate until their bellies were full, they only ate until they were a little full. Chen Ahfu also brought a lot of tonics for Wu's body, but the couple did not dare to use the small kitchen to cook them.
Now there was only Mrs. Tan, whom Chen Afu had bought for them, left in the room. There were no servants from the Chu family. Although the food on the table was not as sumptuous as that in the Marquis' Mansion, the few people ate with relish, and Wang Cheng also drank to his heart's content.
Thinking that he would finally be able to see his sister the day after tomorrow, Wang Cheng began to cry again as he drank.
Wu smiled and persuaded, and then discussed, "… our family can't always live in my sister's house, nor can we always rely on Ah Fu for support. Although the head of the family can get one tael of silver every month, I can't do embroidery now, and my younger brother is so old, he must go to school for two years, so that he can have a good career in the future. Before, Ah Fu gave each of the two children 20 taels of silver. When he left, Mrs. Chu San and the eldest aunt each gave him 50 taels of silver as a gift. Together with the money from selling the house, the total is 148 taels of silver. I spent 5 taels of silver on buying tea and snacks and candies for my sister's family, and there are 143 taels of silver left. Can we do this, buy 20 acres of land and rent it out, and the rent collected plus the military income of the head of the family, our life will be very comfortable. The remaining money is used to build a house, and we will have everything."
Wang Cheng nodded and said, "I think so too."
The two took out the supplements that Chen Ahfu had given to Wu, and the most valuable one was a ginseng. They packed the ginseng together with the tea leaves and snacks they had bought, and this was a gift for the sister's family.
Mrs. Wu regretted it so much and thought that if she had known that she would be able to see her sister so soon, she should have made clothes for her sister and Ah Fu.
Wang Cheng couldn't say that Lord Chu had promised that if the matter was investigated thoroughly, the court would compensate him, and he would definitely be an official. He smiled and said, "You don't have to regret it. When I perform well and get promoted, I will have money. Then we can honor my sister and thank Ah Fu."
Wu laughed and said, "You are the head of the family, but you are also an official? It's so funny."
Even younger brother Wang and younger sister Wang were delighted.
Wang Cheng said proudly, "Don't laugh, just watch."
There was constant laughter in the west wing, but the east wing was not so good. At night, Li Xuan, who had not seen his parents for a long time, began to cry non-stop, and Chen Ahfu and Wei Ma Ma took turns to hold him but it didn't work.
Chu Lingxuan looked at Li Xuan who was crying loudly, feeling helpless. There was already a young man at home fighting with him for Ah Fu, and now there was another one.
Chen Afu had no choice but to take out a small piece of green leaf agarwood and place it on the head of his bed. The faint fragrance spread, and the little guy slowly fell asleep in Chen Afu's "lullaby".
This piece of agarwood belonged to Chen Afu. She secretly returned the large half that Princess Rui gave her to Madam Chu San.
After coaxing little Li Xuan, Chen Ahfu sat by the window and waited. After waiting for a long time, he still didn't see the golden swallow come to find him. This little thing, once it came out, it went wild everywhere. It should come back to report its safety. I wanted to pinch the palm of my left hand to call it back. But I was afraid that if I interrupted its fun for no reason, the little thing would get angry.
A spring rain fell at night, dripping on the roof, making Chen Afu even more unable to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, the rain had stopped. I opened the door and a gust of fresh air hit me. The stone blue road in the yard was still wet, with many small puddles, and a few raindrops occasionally dripped from the eaves. Grandpa Chu Lingxuan and his grandson were practicing boxing under the eaves.
There was an old locust tree in the yard, with new leaves already hanging from its branches. From the tree came the chirping of birds, and one could tell there were many of them, not only sparrows but also swallows.
Suddenly, Chen Afu heard a few familiar calls mixed in, chirping - "Mommy Mommy".
Chen Ahfu was delighted. She lifted her skirt and ran to the tree. She looked up and shouted, "Is that Jinbao? Is Jinbao back?"
A small black bird suddenly flew down from the tree, hung on her collar, and said with a smile, "Mommy, it's me. I got revenge."
Chen Ahfu pulled it off and held it in his hand, then kissed the little pointed mouth twice, lowering his voice and laughing, "Yeah, yeah, Mommy knows, thank you."
The golden swallow was so happy that she stretched out her tongue and licked her little pointed mouth, chirping happily, "Oh, oh, mommy kissed me several times."
Chen Ahfu raised his voice and laughed again, "Oh, it's Jinbao, it's really Jinbao, what a coincidence, I actually ran into you here."
Originally, Chu Lingxuan was still laughing at her for missing Jin Yanzi so much that she would call her Jinbao whenever she saw Yanzi.
After hearing what Chen Afu said, the old man, Chu Lingxuan, as well as Xia Yue, Chu Huai and others who were familiar with Jin Yanzi, all hurried over.
I saw that this swallow's feathers were slightly golden and it was a little smaller. It was indeed a golden swallow.
"Hahahaha, it's really Jinbao." The old man laughed out loud.
Xia Yue asked incredulously, "How did Jin Bao know that Grandma was here?"
Chu Huai said, "Could it be that Jin Bao couldn't find his home and happened to fly here?"
No matter what they said, Chen Afu happily took Jin Yanzi back to the east wing.
Li Xuan was woken up by someone outside and started crying again. Chen Afu took Jin Yanzi to his room. When Li Xuan saw Jin Yanzi, he stopped crying and said a classic phrase with tears in his eyes, "The bird is laughing."
After dinner, everyone took a car to the dock. After boarding the boat, they waved goodbye to Mr. Chu who came to see them off.
With Jin Yanzi's antics, the days on the boat were not difficult to pass. Not only did Li Xuan stop crying for his mother, but even the shy Wang Xiaodi and Wang Xiaomei came out to watch the fun.
At dusk, the ship arrived at the canal wharf outside Dingzhou Prefecture. When everyone got off the ship, Yang, the chief steward of the General's Mansion, had already led people to pick them up.
When we got back to the General's Mansion by car, it was already dark.
This time, Chen Afu entered the General's Mansion not as a needlework master, but as the mistress of the house.
Outside the main gate, many servants stood to greet them.
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